


Bliss

by AtropaAzraelle (Polyoxyethylene)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, Gladio is a romantic, M/M, Rebuilding, after the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 01:12:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13156017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyoxyethylene/pseuds/AtropaAzraelle
Summary: The world is rebuilding, slowly, but surely, and when Gladio catches Ignis musing on his own happiness, he decides now is the time.





	Bliss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [banjkazfan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/banjkazfan/gifts).



> I could only write the fluffiest, happiest thing I could imagine for the fluffiest, sweetest person I know. Banj, you're a ray of sunshine, so keep on shining. Merry Christmas <3

He found Ignis leaning on the little balconette in their lounge. He was clad in pyjama pants, his visor disregarded on the coffee table, bare toes on the hardwood floor as he balanced his forearms on the small railing and leaned out towards the sun’s warmth. Gladio watched him, hair mussed and bare chested, his face tilted up towards the sky. He could see every scar on Ignis’ back, every one a reminder of the journey they’d made and survived.

Seeing Ignis now, enjoying the sunrise in their spacious apartment that still smelled of paint and fresh varnish under the coffee, Gladio felt his heart swell and his insides go soft. It was all over, bar the rebuilding. The world was safe, the Astrals slumbered, the scourge had lifted, Noct was gone, and he’d taken with him the last of the Crystal’s magic.

_I leave it to you. Walk tall, my friends._

Gladio smiled. It had been a bittersweet victory. They’d lost so much along the way, but hope had been something they had all clung to with an iron grip. Ignis had nearly lost it in the days after the first sunrise, after Noct was gone, and with him the only life Ignis had ever known. Gladio’s life too had been changed irretrievably, but Ignis felt it keenly, unsure of what direction he should turn without his sight to aid him.

They’d leaned on each other, and slowly, step by step, they’d found a new path forming beneath their feet. Gladio was helping to organise something like a functioning police force. Ignis was consulting on the logistical nightmare that was the rebuilding of Insomnia, and the formation of a new government.

He walked forwards, his own bare feet tracking across the cool floor, until he reached Ignis. Then he looped his arms around the man’s waist and kissed his shoulder. Ignis didn’t twitch; his hearing was so sharp he could hear a pin drop in a noisy meeting room. He’d probably heard the bedsprings creak as Gladio had shifted off it, let alone his footsteps across the floor.

“Gil for them?” Gladio offered as Ignis exhaled slowly in his arms and leaned back off the railing, into Gladio’s chest.

Ignis adjusted his grip on his mug of coffee, cradling it in both hands as Gladio tugged him into his chest and rested his chin on his shoulder. Ignis was warm and solid in his arms, the muscle developed in ten years of being a stubborn bastard of a daemon hunter having left him leaner and firmer now than he’d been when they’d first left Insomnia, and he’d been enticingly lean and firm, then. He had more scars, now, and less freckles, but the years had made him stunningly beautiful where before he’d been simply attractive, and he’d displayed, over and over again, a determination and strength of will that had left Gladio reeling with admiration and affection. Ignis was so much of everything, so close to perfection that Gladio was never sure if these moments were real or if he’d died in that final battle on the Citadel steps and was living out his last seconds in a happy fantasy that would fill the rest of his life. Ignis was his, somehow. He’d never done anything to deserve everything Ignis was, or even a fraction of it. Falling asleep next to the man was an honour, having him claw at his shoulder and cry out his name in ecstasy was like being exalted to godhood, waking up to him like this in a morning was a moment of pure and perfect bliss.

“I’m happy,” Ignis said, his voice soft and his accent like a finger drawn sensuously up Gladio’s spine. “I woke up this morning, and,” he let the sentence hang as he tilted his head so that it rested against Gladio’s own, “I realised I’m happy despite every sacrifice, every loss, every battle, and argument, everything we’ve surrendered. If I had to go back to the beginning and give it all up over again, I could, so long as mornings like this are still at the end of it.”

Gladio nuzzled his nose into Ignis’ neck. Ignis hadn’t shaved yet, and the light brush of stubble against Gladio’s upper cheek was a rare and pleasant privilege; he was the only one that got to see Ignis unprepared to face the world. “Me too,” he said, pressing his lips to the soft skin of Ignis’ throat. He pressed another kiss to Ignis’ shoulder, and then said, “Wait here.”

Letting go of Ignis was done reluctantly, and Gladio strode back to the bedroom in a hurry, not wanting to leave Ignis waiting for too long. When he returned Ignis had turned towards him, and was cradling his coffee under his nose. Gladio peeled the cup slowly from his hands, placing it on the coffee table behind him, and then took the back of Ignis’s hand in his, and gently pressed a box into his palm.

Ignis’ fingers curled around it slowly, his lips parted so white teeth showed, resting just against his bottom lip. His other hand drifted to rest on the top of the box, as if it confirm what he was feeling. “Gladio,” he whispered.

“Open it,” Gladio said, watching as Ignis’s blind eye flickered up to where he stood. He was a shadow to Ignis at best, he knew, but Ignis never needed to see him to know what he was thinking.

Elegant fingers lifted the lid on the box with a small snap, and then reached down to find its contents. Gladio watched him bite his lip, his own heart thundering in his ears even though he knew this was what they both wanted. He hoped it was, at least. “I was going to wait until they rebuilt Galdin Quay,” he said, his words a little rushed, “and ask you there, but I don’t think I could make a better moment.”

He reached down and plucked the ring and its box from under Ignis’ fingertips, then sank to his knee. The box was discarded on the floor as Gladio took Ignis’ hand in his, and found the tip of his fourth finger with the ring. “Will you let me try and make every morning like this?” he asked. “For the rest of your life, and mine?”

“Gladio,” Ignis began. His breath came in a trembling exhale.

“Just say it, Iggy. Will you marry me?”

He watched, nervously as Ignis composed himself. “Put the damn ring on my finger, Gladio, and then come here and kiss me.”

The ring slipped easily over Ignis’ knuckle, coming to rest just below it, a little gold talisman around Ignis’ finger. Then Gladio stood, and pulled Ignis tight into his arms, his mouth finding Ignis’ as he poured every ounce of joy and love and longing into a kiss. “I love you so much,” he said, breaking away.

“And I, you,” Ignis replied, his lips flushed and settled into a soft smile. “Now let me go, I have to make a phone call.”

“Prompto?” Gladio guessed. The kid would probably hoot a ‘finally’ so loud the entirety of Eos would realise what had just happened.

“No,” Ignis said, withdrawing slowly from Gladio’s grip. “I’m going to let Cor know that I won’t be in today.” The expression he flashed Gladio bordered on devilish as he added, “You can wait for me in the bedroom.”


End file.
